Accentuate the Positive Geneameme 2021 - Responses

Sending a HUGE shoutout to my genimates near and far who responded to this Geneameme Challenge (it's not too late for you to join this select group of geneabloggers).

As one who hasn't yet penned her post I know how much time it takes to reflect, write, edit etc. I thank you all for your commitment and contributions which are inspiring and full of information. While Covid presented many challenges you took them head on and made stunning progress with your education and research.

Alex Daw https://familytreefrog.blogspot.com/2021/12/accentuate-positive-geneameme-2021.html

Andrew Redfern  https://andrewredfern.com/accentuate-the-positive-geneameme-2021/

Bobbie Edes  https://gsq-blog.gsq.org.au/accentuate-the-positive-2022/

Danielle Lautrec  https://generationsgenealogyaus.wordpress.com/2022/01/09/accentuate-the-positive/

Dara McGivern  https://blackravengenealogy.blogspot.com/2022/01/2021-in-review-accentuate-positive.html

Jennifer Jones  https://jonesfamilyhistory.wordpress.com/2022/01/04/genealogy-plans-for-2022/

Jill Ball  https://geniaus.blogspot.com/2022/01/accentuate-positive-better-late-than.html

Lilian Magill  http://researchbylily.blogspot.com/2021/12/accentuate-positive.html

Linda Stufflebean  https://emptybranchesonthefamilytree.com/2022/01/jill-balls-accentuate-the-positive-geneameme-2021/

Maggie  https://www.iwikiwi.com/2022/01/03/accentuate-the-positive-2021/

Mel Hulbert  https://www.itsallrelative.com.au/post/accentuate-the-positive-geneameme-2021

Pauline Williams  https://gsq-blog.gsq.org.au/accentuate-the-positive-2021-challenge/

Robyn and the Genies  https://robynandthegenies.blogspot.com/2021/12/accentuate-positive-2021-in-review.html

Samantha John  https://lyfelynes.com/accentuate-the-positive-2021/

ScotsSue  https://scotsue-familyhistoryfun.blogspot.com/2022/01/accentuate-positive-2021-family-history.html

Sharon   http://genealogymatters2me.blogspot.com/2021/12/accentuate-positive-2022.html

Shauna Hicks  https://www.shaunahicks.com.au/accentuate-the-positive-geneameme-2021/

TasTeach  https://suewyatt.edublogs.org/2021/12/28/my-positives-from-2021/

I will continue to add to this list. 

If I have missed anyone please let me know and I will rectify ASAP.

World Class Event in Sydney

I am still on a high after spending three days at the DNA Downunder event in Sydney last week. It has taken me a while to pen this last post because I have so much to say about this event which was world class. I wore my Ambassador Badge with pride during the event.

Kudos for taking a risk and staging such a professional event must go to Alan Phillips from Unlock the Past. Alan has been staging genealogy roadshows for several years but with DNA Downunder he took this event to another level. Right from the start the event promotion, including the appointment of Ambassadors, was top notch. 

Alan Phillips directing proceedings at DNA Downunder

 The venue in Sydney was excellent and only the most persnickety could find fault. The little things that make a great conference stand out from a good conference like smooth online registration, name tags, lanyards, programs (both online and in hard copy), signage, a strict timetable that was adhered to, opportunities to spend a few $$$ and get advice from vendors and societies coupled with an amazing star presenter, Blaine Bettinger, with solid supporting acts made this conference a success. Without the support of Alona and Anthea, the two family members and co-workers who are Alan's right hand women, this show would not have been such a fantastic event.

Alona and Anthea 

On a personal level I got so much from the feast of lectures on the program and took away a Doggie Bag full of ideas and tips to apply to my DNA research.I always enjoy geneaevents while I am there; I find many talks interesting and entertaining with content that is nice to know but they are not educative or inspiring.  DNA Downunder was an educative experience of the highest calibre.

Eager genies - Ready to learn

I attended every one of Blaine's 14 lectures, I had many items reinforced and learnt something new from all of them. As I predicted I am suffering from Blaine Overload but that is a positive outcome. As well as learning about methodology and resources I particularly enjoyed the emphasis on the ethics of DNA use and the constant reminders of the emotional effects that DNA discoveries can have on those involved. 

Blaine, a a genuine nice guy, spent so much time chatting with attendees

Shelley Crawford

I must apologise to the other speakers on the program as, because I went to all of Blaine's talks, I only managed to go to two other presentations. There was no way I was going to miss my genimate Shelley Crawford's talk so I was lucky she spoke when Blaine was having a break. Shelley was one of the first Australians to enter the world of genetic genealogy.

Shelley had a full house

One of the first people I encountered when I went to take my seat was Blaine. Getting  a hug and a hello from him set the scene for a super event. 

Blaine and GeniAus

I revelled in the out of school opportunities that a face to face conference offers. I caught up with some of my dear online pals, genimates from all over the place, loads of geneabloggers and met several genies for the first time.

Geneabloggers at DNA Downunder 

I just hope that Alan hosts a similar event in the future. These events educate, energise and enthuse our family history community.

A Day at the Microfilm Reader

I was delighted earlier this year when I  found an online index listing the daily contents of the Haddingtonshire Courier (now the East Lothian Courier) from October 1859 up to December 1902. The newspaper collection on microfilm  is housed in the Local History area of the John Gray Centre in Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland.

Now it just so happens that Mr GeniAus has Gowans and Sibbald ancestors who were in the Haddington area during that period so I checked the index and found more than 30 reference to family members. I saved these on a spreadsheet. As we were planning a trip to the UK I added Haddington to our itinerary. Once I had a date I emailed the John Gray Centre and booked a microfilm reader for the day.

I was most impressed when Mr GeniAus dropped me off at the Centre and went to find a parking spot. When we visited a number of years ago the local studies collection was stored in an inadequate area in a loft. The new  John Gray Centre houses the local library and archives in a lovely light filled environment.

When I marched up to the reception I was given a right, royal welcome. Bill Wilson, Local History Officer,  and his staff settled me at a microfilm reader and organised  retrieval of the films I needed. Robert joined me and we bunkered down for a morning of research.

GeniAus at work

Local studies collection

 While I played with the microfilms and downloaded the newspaper articles onto a thumb drive  Mr GeniAus browsed the book collection looking for references to his ancestors.  Bill offered us a behind the scenes tour of the archives but I declined as I wanted to complete my task. Mr GeniAus accepted Bill's offer and found the tour very interesting.

Behind the scenes in the John Gray Centre 

An innovative display highlighting local identities

 When I announced on Facebook that I was headed to Edinburgh and Haddington my fellow geneablogger, John Laws, who lives in the neighbourhood suggested we meet up. Knowing that we would need a lunch break we made a date to meet John at a local cafe, The Loft. 

It was lovely to meet John in the flesh, through blogging and genealogy we had been online friends for several years.  John is kept busy with a surname study for the Laws (and variants) name. He blogs about it here at The Laws Family Register.

Meeting up with genimate, John Laws

 After our break we returned to the John Gray Centre so I could complete my task. My head was swimming after spending several hours at the microfilm reader so I was pleased to set off towards our next stop at Galashiels.

I was not so pleased when, that evening, I discovered that I had left my thumb drive containing all my saved images in the microfilm reader. Mr GeniAus displayed great restraint the next morning when we had to trace our steps to  collect my thumb drive.

I cannot thank enough Bill Wilson and the staff at John Gray Centre  who made us so welcome. I owe a debt of gratitude to the team of volunteers who have created such a valuable resource in the newspaper index.

Bloggers a plenty at Congress_2018

In a comment on my recent post my Canadian genimate Louis Kessler remarked "I think you're showing the highest ratio of bloggers to attendees of any genealogy conference, anywhere, and that includes RootsTech. Lot's of bloggers Down Under!"

And I think Louis is right. Pre-Congress I asked bloggers attending to register on a Google sheet so we could organise distribution of Blogger beads. Fifty-five bloggers attending Congress put their name on the list while several bloggers that I know were at Congress including Judy G Russell, Lisa Louise Cooke, Paul Milner, Lee-Anne Hamilton, Martyn Killion, and Carole Riley weren't on the list, there may have been others. While at Congress three new bloggers penned their first posts. That brings the total of geneabloggers at Congress to at least  61. There were 620 genies registered for Congress so nearly 10% of the attendees were genealogy bloggers. 

One of the benefits of creating that bloggers list was that I found a few new Aussie bloggers to add to my RSS feed.

 I organised a photo call for the bloggers at 1:00pm on the last day of Congress. Unfortunately I had taken ill so missed the photo. Those who gathered for the photo were a little keen so they took the pictures a few minutes early which meant that some bloggers including my mate Pauleen Cass missed the shoot. 

I was going to neatly paste photos of Pauleen and me into the group photo shared with me by Lilian Magill but when I saw the empty foreground that was in the picture I had second thoughts and plonked an old pic of Pauleen (my co-admin on the Genimates at Congress FB Group)  and me up front and centre. Cheeky!

Geneablogging is certainly thriving downunder.

Accentuate the Positive Geneameme 2017 - The Posts

I am grateful to my genimates new and old who rose to my "Accentuate the Positive 2017" challenge at a hectic time of year. 

I firmly believe that reflection and evaluation are important elements of any process but sometimes feel that we are a little brutal when it comes to self evaluation. It was rewarding to read the posts below in which many genies came to the realisation that 2017 was indeed a very good year.

I apologise that it has taken me some time to publish this compilation. I have spent the past two weeks on King Island in Bass Strait where I had limited access.  Please peruse the posts from several corners of the world - you may meet some new bloggers like I did.

If I have missed any posts please let me know and I will add them to the list. If you would still like to participate please let me know and I will add your post to the list.

Alex Daw  https://familytreefrog.blogspot.com.au/2017/12/accentuate-positive-geneameme-2017.html
Alona Tester  https://www.lonetester.com/2017/12/accentuate-the-positive-geneameme-2017/
Ann Marie Bryant  https://talesofafamily.blog/2018/01/05/12637/#more-12637
Anne Young  https://ayfamilyhistory.com/2018/01/02/start-2018-by-accentuating-the-positive/
Elizabeth Handler  https://frommainetokentucky.blogspot.com/2017/12/accentuate-positive-geneameme-for-2017.html
Jane Taubman http://www.taubman.org.uk/family/wp/2017/12/27/accentuate-the-positive-geneameme-2017/ 
Jeanne Bryan Insalaco https://everyonehasafamilystorytotell.wordpress.com/2018/01/04/accentuate-the-positive-geneameme-2017/
Jill Ball  http://geniaus.blogspot.com.au/2018/01/accentuate-positive-geneameme-2017.html
Julie Goucher https://anglersrestblog.wordpress.com/2018/01/02/accentuate-the-positive-geneameme-2017/
Kayplik  https://pastlinks.blogspot.com.au/2018/01/accentuate-positive-geneameme-2017.html
Laura Mattingly  https://oldtrunkintheattic.blogspot.com/2017/12/2017-year-in-review-accentuate-positive.html
Lilian Magill http://researchbylily.blogspot.com.au/2017/12/accentuate-positive.html
Linda Stufflebean https://emptybranchesonthefamilytree.com/2017/12/accentuate-the-positive-geneameme-2017 
Patsy Daly  https://www.patsyspaddocks.com/accentuate-the-positive-geneameme-2017/
Pauleen Cass  https://cassmob.wordpress.com/2018/01/02/accentuate-the-positive-2017/
Shauna Hicks  http://www.shaunahicks.com.au/accentuate-the-positive-geneameme-2017/
Vera Marie Badertscher  http://ancestorsinaprons.com/tag/2017-2018/

Following Taneya's Tip

I love it when I pick up a really useful tip from another geneablogger.

Yesterday as I was catching up on some blog reading I came across a recent Tech Tuesday post from Taneya Koonce in which she talked about the organisation of her digital images. She mentioned that she had been a user of Picasa but that when Google withdrew support for that product she returned to an ACDSee  product she had used previously.

That post was so timely for me as I have been looking around for something to replace Picasa.  Picasa still works but I don't want to be in a situation where it may crash and I lose all the info I have added to my images with the program.

I immediately investigated the ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 10 program by seeking out reviews and reading posts in user groups. There was a lot of positivity so I took advantage of the month's free trial and downloaded the program.

Playing with ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 10

After 6 hours use I find that it is a sophisticated package that has some features I may never use but it does what I want and more. The tags I had assigned to all my images in Picasa have appeared in the IPTC Metadata keyword field. This was a major criteria for me, a feature that was essential. Being able to apply metadata that conforms to IPTC international standards is most important to this old librarian, I have spent most of my time today doing that. I have played around with retrieving images from my sample collection and that works well.

I only had to resort to the Help Menu a couple of times as I played with my photos from 2017 so I guess that means it is fairly intuitive.

ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 10  is not cheap but is on special online for $USD99 until 17th January. I won't be parting with my money immediately. I'll play with the program a little more but I am confident that I have found a solution that suits my purposes.

The Rise and Fall of the Blog?

In the Australian Local & Family History Bloggers Group on Facebook earlier this week Australian geneablogger Anne Young shared an article from JSTOR Daily “The rise and fall of the blog”.

I don’t think geneablogging is dead. I think that more people are dipping their toes into geneablogging waters and finding that it does not suit their style. Those committed to geneablogging are still around although they may be be blogging as often as they once did. In the ensuing conversation Anne asked me “Jill didn’t you keep some statistics about whether blogs you followed were still active?"

In January last year I wrote about the blogs on the 2013 list and reported on those still active. 38 were still going strong

Prompted by Anne I took a look at the list of 50 blogs you need to read that I prepared for Inside History Magazine in 2014 (This list may vary slightly from that published by Inside History as I gave them a few runners-up for consideration). The audience for the list was genies and historians in Australia and New Zealand and the bias was towards blogs from ANZ.

Below is a list of those 46 blogs still active in 2017. Some bloggers on the list only posted once or twice while many were Quite productive. Commitment is important to me and I think that only posting once a year demonstrates that commitment may be on the wane. I wonder who will still be around at the end of 2018?

If I was preparing such a list in 2018 it would look different from the one below as I believe that several newer bloggers publish better products than some on this list.

I congratulate all the 2014 stayers on this list for keeping geneablogging alive.

Ancestor Chasing Kerryn Taylor

Anne's Family History Anne Young

Australian National Maritime Museum

Australian War Memorial now Memorial Articles

British Genes Chris Paton

By the Bremer: Memories of Ipswich

Camden Library Local Studies

Canada Bay Connections Canada Bay Library

Carnamah Historical Society & Museum's Blog

Casey Cardinia - Links to our Past

The cook and the curator

Dead Cert Meghan Hawkes

Diary of an Australian Genealogist Shauna Hicks

The Empire called and I answered Lenore Frost

Family History across the seas  Pauleen Cass

Family Tree Frog Alex Daw

Familysearch Blog

Fighting the Kaiser Cheryl G

Finding Family  Jess

Geniaus  Jill Ball

The Hocken blog  Hocken Collections Uare Taoka o Hakena

Irish Genealogy News Claire Santry

Kintalk Auckland Libraries

Kylie's Genes  Kylie Willison

Local Notes Leichhardt Library

Lonetester HQ Alona Tester

Lost Medals Australia  Glyn Llanwarne

Moonee Valley Family and Local History  Moonee Valley Libraries

Moruya and District Historical Society

My Past Whispers Lauren Bavin

The National Archives UK

Professional Historians Association NSW & ACT

Public Record Office of Victoria

Queensland's World War 1 Centenary SLQ

Resident Judge of Port Phillip

Shaking the tree  Su Leslie

Shellharbour's Local History Blog

Signposts: a blog about the encyclopaedia of New Zealand

South Australian Lithuanian History

Strong Foundations Sharon

Stumbling through the past Yvonne Perkins

Thames NZ Genealogy Resources  Althea

The Tree of me Sharon Brennan

Thomas J Nevin | Tasmaninan Photographer

Timespanner  Lisa Truttman

Worldwide Genealogy International collaboration

101 Reasons to Attend #congress_2018 - Lonetester

Lonetester, a young Australian geneablogger, who is co-sponsoring the ribbons for Geneabloggers with me, has a busy time ahead of her at Congress as she will be attending as an exhibitor.

Although the list of exhibitors has not yet been announced by the organisers Alona Tester aka Lonetester has said that she will be working there. Alona not only works in the genealogy field she is a passionate genie who busily chases ancestors in her free time. You can get to know Alona in this interview, http://hackgenealogy.com/alona-tester-hack-genealogy/, which is an oldie but a goodie.

Alona Tester at work

Meanwhile if you haven't read her blogs it's time you did. Lonetester is her main blog; I also love her Memorabilia House blog which has unique content.

You will have to visit the Unlock the Past/Gould Genealogy stand throughout Congress if you want to say G'day to this friendly Nextgen genie. 

A Trio from the Tribe

Were you ears burning this morning?  Your name may have come up in conversations today about cemeteries, conferences, colleagues and other geneatopics.

A few hours ago I met up in a cafe at Beecroft with a couple of fellow GeneabloggersTRIBE members for a cuppa and a chat. Although we rarely see each other we have become firm online friends over the years due to our shared interests in genealogy and geneablogging and as members of the GeneabloggersTRIBE. Seeing each other ín the flesh is a special treat. That I am nearly old enough to be Caitlin's grandmother doesn't matter - family history friendships cross generations.

L-R Sharn, Jill, Caitlin

Due to life's circumstances I haven't seen Sharn White or Caitlin Gow for ages. When Caitlin mentioned that she was visiting Sydney for a week I contacted she and Sharn and we organised our meeting. I was able to present Sharn, whose health issues prevented her from attending Rootstech 2017, with some sougenirs and loot from the Conference.

It was quite a family affair as Sharn's husband David, two of her daughters and a grandson called by to say G'day and meet Caitlin who lives 1,000km away. I think the mystery gentleman who picked up our tab may have been David, thank you so much.

We had a great old chinwag and shared a few geneasecrets that are not suitable to air in public!!

A sweet something to complement the cuppa.

GAGs - GeniAus' Gems - 23 June 2017

It's been a frustrating week for reading and writing blog posts. The phone line has been down for a week at our city pad and the internet is moving at snail's pace. I spent five days at our lake house and  have nearly chewed up the 40gig of data I have per month on my phone plan so my online activities have been seriously curtailed.

In selecting posts for this week's Gems I was forced to skim read and ignore posts with titles that didn't pique my curiosity.Here goes with my selections for the week past.

1. Great to see Fran (and Carel last week) mentioned on the GeneabloggersTRIBE site (have you listed your blog there?)
http://geneabloggerstribe.com/travelgenee-joins-the-geneabloggertribe/

2. A few short tips for Intelligent Searches.
http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/intelligent-searching.html

3. Jane describes how she looks after her data.
http://www.taubman.org.uk/family/wp/2017/06/18/backups-and-ransomware/

4. Anne has reached a milestone.
http://ayfamilyhistory.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/250-posts-later.html

5. Help for the DNA Challenged.
http://dnaandfamilytreeresearch.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/wdytya-2017-videos-going-online.html

6. A researcher needs our input.
http://www.irishgenealogynews.com/2017/06/views-of-genealogists-sought-by.html

7. Chez researches an Aussie icon.
http://linksinachain.blogspot.com/2017/06/trove-tuesday-biscuits.html

8. I haven't read this yet. Have you?
http://ancestryauthor.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/dying-games-is-out-what-do-you-think.html

9. Trove comes up Trumps again.
https://ancestorchaser.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/david-adams-breakthrough-i-hope.html

10. Reflecting on an ancestor's life.
https://gsq-blog.gsq.org.au/life-pioneering-woman/

11. This title fascinated me.
http://earlieryears.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/the-rams-head-and-rock-playground.html

12. And here are a few responses to the Cemetery Day Challenge Alona posted last week. A great theme that elicited some interesting responses.
http://robynandthegenies.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/celebrating-cemeteries.html
http://michellefnichols.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/remembering-cemetery-day.html
http://www.lonetester.com/2017/06/cemetery-day-18-june-2017/
https://campaspegenealogy.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/cemetery-day.html
http://geniaus.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/my-cemetree.html

GAGs - GeniAus' Gems - 16 June 2017

Once again I have decided to be patriotic and offer selections from Australian bloggers in this week's post. I think again this week that the cool weather has driven the bloggers indoors. I see a few blogging who have been absent for a while.

First up I mention a post that came through from Alona this morning. How about we all put our fingers to the keyboard and craft a cemetery post for Sunday, then tweet it using the hashtag #CemeteryDay.
http://www.lonetester.com/2017/06/introducing-cemeteryday/

Robyn reports on her DNA progress.
http://robynandthegenies.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/dna-12-months-down-track.html

DNA helped in this case.
https://historybylarzus.wordpress.com/2017/06/13/the-mystery-of-jane-leahy/

How did I miss Kerryn's discovery last week. Had to break my cutoff rules and share.
http://ancestorchaser.blogspot.com/2017/06/our-amazing-new-family-dna-discovery.html

A spot of local history for Sydneysiders.
https://anmm.wordpress.com/2017/06/14/midget-submarine-attack-on-sydney-31-may-1-june-1942/

James visited another Sydney icon.
https://jamesobrien.id.au/2017/06/10/mortuary-station/

A new resource that add background to your stories.
http://caseycardinialinkstoourpast.blogspot.com/2017/06/year-book-australia.html

More suggestions for your reading list.
http://geniaus.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/five-faves-geneameme-responses.html

These titles may also be of interest.
http://ypgenealogy.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/new-books-for-family-history-research.html

Chez sends us down a rabbit hole with another online resource.
http://linksinachain.blogspot.com/2017/06/trove-tuesday-never-ceases-to-surprise.html

A Geneajourney for our GenX girl.
http://genxalogy.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/why-is-it-always-you-jimmy.html

TRIBE leader Caitlyn
http://genealogically-speaking.blogspot.com/2017/06/geneabloggerstribe.html

Have you joined the TRIBE? Jo Ann has.
http://ofmyfleshandblood.blogspot.com/2017/06/blogging-badge-for-geneabloggers-tribe.html


New to me blogs
The Keeper of Stories
https://tpr76797.wordpress.com/

Luddite Bicentenary (not Australian but has some Australian content
http://ludditebicentenary.blogspot.com/

Oops
Just realised that this blog was missing from my RSS feeds
http://blog.gsv.org.au/

GAGs - GeniAus' Gems - 9 June 2017

This week's post is a Saturday Special. As I was involved with family yesterday I didn't not have sufficient time to complete and  publish my post.

It has been a blog-filled week for me. As part of my responsibilities for the GeneabloggersTRIBE I visited over 600 genealogy of the blogs on their Members List. I was struck by the depth and diversity of content I found there in genealogy blogs. It was sad to see so many inactive blogs but it was heartening that, although they are inactive, the stories they tell live on at sites like Blogger and Wordpress.

I also have self-diagnosed Bloggerhoea this week having penned (some scheduled for later) around a dozen posts for the various blogs I curate. I wonder if you sometimes have an attack of this affliction.

In this week's selection I am concentrating on Australian blogs just because I feel like promoting geneablogs from downunder. I am rather fortunate that many of my genimates have blogged this week (was it the chilly weather?).

My first few selections are from libraries' local studies collections. Our libraries downunder do a great job sharing and preserving stories of people and places from the past.

From Sutherland, NSW.
Local History, Local Stories: WWI Field Gun

From John Oxley, Library, Queensland.
http://blogs.slq.qld.gov.au/jol/2017/06/07/watson-estate-booval-boovaleast-ipswich-1911/

From Parramatta, NSW.
http://arc.parracity.nsw.gov.au/blog/2017/06/05/world-war-one-parramatta-soldiers-francis-william-owens/

From Casey/Cardinia, Victoria

http://caseycardinialinkstoourpast.blogspot.com/2017/06/hallam-hotel.html

From Tea Tree Gully, South Australia
https://ttglibrary.com/2017/06/07/way-back-when-wednesdays-23/

From Wagga Wagga, NSW.
http://memoriesofwagga.blogspot.com/2017/05/new-to-local-studies-three-family.html

Quite a few librarians including Ellen and Michelle blog too.
http://readplayparticipate.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/where-photographs-end-up-part-2.html
http://michellefnichols.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/a-carter-and-his-sister-in-law-trove.html

Some of my genimates are excited about #Congress_2018.
https://jonesfamilyhistory.wordpress.com/2017/06/06/congress_-2018-sydney/ 

https://cassmob.wordpress.com/2017/06/02/genea-conference-excitement/ 

http://twigsofyore.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/the-early-bird-gets-conference-ticket.html

Some bloggers have been learning and sharing

http://researchbylily.blogspot.com/2017/06/a-lost-weekend-well-not-really.html

https://njsneddon.wordpress.com/2017/05/31/comparing-dna-testing-companies-ethnicity-estimates/
http://twigsofyore.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/reconstituting-allsops-of.html
https://cassmob.wordpress.com/2016/07/14/applying-a-lesson/

And one has returned after taking a sabbatical. Welcome back.
https://familyfractals.wordpress.com/2017/06/08/where-have-you-been-stranger/

I think a post of mine prompted this post about an atypical Troveite. Isn't that grand
http://linksinachain.blogspot.com/2017/06/trove-tuesday.html

A few Newtome blogs were found this week.
https://clogsandclippers.blogspot.com.au/
https://tpr76797.wordpress.com/
http://georgiesgenealogy.blogspot.com.au/

Oops - I've gone over my self imposed limit of a dozen blogs this week just because....I can.